I will start this out by stating that this analysis started to be thought out after the brexit was done. After that disaster of a referendum happened, a lot of people started to claim that "Nationalism was venomous" and "Nationalism was bad for us as individuals". So I, being the nationalist that I am, decided to first make some research before talking about it and then write my own conclusions on the matter.

For the sake of this, I'll first give a very brief explanation of what Nationalism is (according to Wikipedia) and use well known examples (plus personal examples) to show how they work. According to Wikipedia, there are many types of Nationalisms, but we'll focus on the first two, since this are the ones that are the ones causing so much discussions lately:

1.- Inclusive Nationalism (or Nationalism of 1st generation): This is the type of Nationalism that's born from people that finds similarities among themselves (whether because they have some shared history or because they see more similarities than differences), so they join together and form a nation. This is the type of Nationalism that created nations like Germany, Italy, The Great Colombia and is what makes any colony to rise against its masters (like the US against the British or Latin America against Spain).

2.- Segregating Nationalism (or Nationalism of 2nd Generation): This is the type of Nationalism born from people that find more differences from one another than similarities, so this groups of people start to separate from other groups to become their own thing (In other words, they're not like us, they don't have anything to do with us). This is the type of Nationalism that makes Cataluña and Vasco to desire to split from Spain, that separates North Korea from South Korea, that killed the Great Colombia (making Venezuela and Ecuador to split from Colombia) and what the British used to start the Brexit.

With that said, I can finally ask: Is Nationalism bad?

To that I can safely say no. Just using history as a base, I can safely say that if it weren't for nationalism we wouldn't be living in independent nations. The US wouldn't exist and Spain would still be a powerhouse in Europe. Nationalism has been used to unite us against common enemies (US vs Germany) and to destroy walls (like what Pérez Jiménez did). TO say that nationalism is bad for us as individuals (are that it's built from something imaginary or non existent) would be an insult for those who fought to give us something to live for and that worked hard to make sure that we can live in peace.

Nationalism has been used to separate and create walls, yes. But we can also use our minds to ask to ourselves "What makes us like them?" or "Are this people right?" or "what are the foundations that created this country that says that we should separate from people that could be our own family?". In the end, we decide what type of Nationalism to listen and use and WE are the ones who decides what makes our Nation's values and who are part of it.

So ask yourselves: What makes me a part of my nation and what are my nation's values? Once you start asking yourself those questions, you may start to realize what bridges to built and which walls to destroy.

Thank you for reading, have a nice day.

Usually the things that a nationalist is proudest of is beating down some other nationalists. Russia's proudest moment as a nation is Germany's deepest moment of ignominy as a nation. Britain cannot exist as a nation without suppressing the nations of Wales, Scotland, and (to a lesser extent) England. If a European nation arises, it must do at the expense of lesser nations and count loyalty to them to be treason to itself. Likewise, if Basques or Quebecois raise up their nationhood, they must break the greater nations of Spain or Canada as Croatians and Ukrainians broke Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.

I'm pretty reluctant to endorse nationalism when the main purpose of a nation seems to be to butt heads with other nations.

Also, since you're pretty clearly a fan of the inclusive nationhood, what are your thoughts on having your language removed from public use, your history forgotten, and your holidays taken off the calender so that your nation can be subsumed into something bigger and supposedly better? There are plenty of nations that have been crushed underfoot in the name of national unity and yours could be one of them someday.